Bachelors
by tiashew14
Summary: The compilation of 'Moments' spin-off short stories. Post- dating, pre-marriage, pure romance with tiny bit of humor ShikaTema at its best.
1. Chapter 1 - Bachelors

**Title:** Bachelors

 **Author:** _tiashew14_

 **Genre:** romance and humor

 **Pairing:** ShikaTema

 **Raiting:** K+.

 **Fandom:** Naruto

 **DC:** the original story belongs to the author. I'm only responsible for my own imagination.

 **Annotation:** The bachelor party is the time when all the hidden secrets and desires will finally show itself… Short story. Extra chapter to the 'Moments' story.

 **Author's note:** There was this thought that dwelled inside of me ever since I've received one of the reviews. That stated "I want to see angry and possessive Shikamaru". I won't hide it, but my first thought was "Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" But the thought never let go of me. So some days ago I actually came up with this idea, hehe. I'm pretty sure it's not what you expect! And I admit, that there might be some OOC, that's why now I confidently put 'humor' genre this time (and that's the reason why I don't add this as a chapter to my 'Moments' story). But working with this idea was rather fun, so I'm actually posting it.

Enjoy! (I hope).

* * *

"Why it has to be you?"

You don't have to be a genius to know that the guy was drunk, to the point when he couldn't control his movements and tongue anymore. It was hard to tell, just how much they've drank that evening, but even Shikamaru started to feel just how much alcohol is messing up with his head. It has to be a lot, since he was pretty sure himself, that he won't be able to walk or think straight.

Kankurou sure can drink.

None of this made any sense to Shikamaru. Ever since his future brother in law asked him out to drink. It was still a week before the wedding, all five Kage gathered together for one last meeting before the celebration. But now instead of seeing his bride, Shikamaru was stuck with her middle brother. Since next time they see each other would be at the wedding itself, this was some kind of awkward bachelor party. Everyone else passed out long time ago, showing a little resistance to alcohol. Before Shikamaru even noticed, there was just two of them left.

Kankurou sure can drink.

That was probably his plan from the very beginning.

"Half of the Hidden Sand is crying right now, you know that? All because of you."

"Huh? Why is that?" The conversation turned out to be troublesome again. Well, Shikamaru always knew that Kankurou is a jealous type, but to go on about it for all this time...

"Don't you know? Don't tell me Temari never told you." The smirk on Kankurou's face didn't mean anything good.

"Tell me what?"

"So you're not that smart after all." Future brother in law laughed. "Just think about it."

Thinking was troublesome.

"About what?"

"You might have spent a lot of time together, when she's in the Leaf." His smirk was kind of annoying. "But that's still just couple of days per month. Have you ever though what happens when she's in the Sand?"

It's not that Shikamaru didn't think about it, but he always imagined her to be just as busy as he is.

"Have you ever thought that she might be popular?"

Well, that's to be expected, since she's fourth Kazekage's daughter and fifth Kazekage's sister.

"Have you ever thought that other guys may fancy her?"

Shikamaru never really thought of that. Probably because he himself was never that much into girls. But not everyone out there was like that. Most of the guys will go crazy about attractive girls, especially someone as popular.

Some kind of cold sluggish feeling woke up down in his stomach. 'It's probably just the alcohol.' Shikamaru thought, trying to explain this unsettling sensation to himself.

"Have you ever thought how the other guys look at her?"

Shikamaru better than anyone knew that Temari preferred shorter clothes mostly due to its convenience rather than hot weather in the Sand. When it comes together with a beautiful body, there's no stopping a guy's imagination. That one fact Shikamaru experienced himself. And yet he forgot that the others might just do the same...

The unsettling feeling started to move its way up. There was no blaming alcohol now.

"Have you ever thought that she might have another boyfriend there?"

Shikamaru froze, and so did the beast inside him. That wasn't true. There was no way it could be. The reasonable part of his mind tried to shout out to his senses, but there was no use. Shikamaru felt his insides starting to boil.

"Not that I know about it. She only told me about you when you got engaged."

"Wha?.."

"I just hear guys talking, you know. Even the youngsters would gladly take your place, you know that? Half of my squad will give anything to have her, and the other half is secretly planning to sabotage the wedding."

"What a drag..." Shikamaru said calming down. It was just alcohol messing with his emotions, no doubt about that.

"So yeah, guys of the whole Hidden Sand are crying right now. If the girls are crazy about Gaara, all the guys will be ready to die for Temari.."

"What about you then?" Shikamaru never thought about it before either. Being the middle brother sure is tough. Especially when the other two siblings are this outstanding. The groom was kind of happy that he is the only child.

"Shut up!" Kankurou next glass he finished in one go.

'That can't be good...' Shikamaru thought watching future brother in law pulling that stunt. 'I'll give him a minute or so.'

"Why would she reject every guy in the Hidden Sand for you?" Said Kankurou and fell on the table. "Why it had to be you?.." he mumbled passing out.

'So, I guess the party is over...' the groom looked around. Maybe some of these sleeping bodies will wake up sober enough to carry unconscious ones back home or their hotel rooms.

"What a drag..."

* * *

On his way to the hotel, Shikamaru realized he drank too much. It wasn't just walking straight that was difficult, but walking in general. The whole world was spinning and shaking. Barely conscious Kankurou, whom the groom had to drag back to the Kazekage's hotel room, only made this task harder. The guy couldn't stand, was constantly mumbling about some guys back in the Sand and had no desire to fight the urge to fall and sleep right in the middle of the road.

Plus, Kankurou was heavy.

Gaara with his gourd will probably weight less than this guy, let alone Temari...

Speaking of, weren't the girls also gathering for a bachelorette party? Is she even back? Well, Gaara will probably be there, since he escaped before the party even started.

But it was Temari who opened the door.

Took her a second to analyze the situation.

"Sorry about that." She sighed. "Put him on the couch."

Kankurou was still mumbling something about all the Sand guys who were drowning in tears. But he seemed happy to finally lie down. Middle brother drifted into deep sleep in one second.

"You want anything?" Temari asked. She of all people could see just how drunk her future husband really is. And yet, she didn't look drunk at all. Was it just her, or girls parties didn't involve this much alcohol, Shikamaru didn't know. He just struggled to keep the answer to the last question to himself. Because the only thing his drunken mind was capable of thinking was "you." One of the most annoying traditions prohibited any physical contact a month before the wedding.

Trying to get rid of that one thought, Shikamaru remembered Kankurou's mumbling.

"Did you really reject all the guys in the Sand?"

She stood startled for a second.

"Who told you that?"

"He did." Shikamaru pointed at his future brother in law. Judging from Temari's look, her middle brother will have to suffer through a long and profound lecture why alcohol can be harmful to one's health. "Is it true?"

"Of course not. There can't be that many..."

The unsettling feelings Shikamaru felt during the conversation with her brother was back again.

"How many?"

"Just a **couple of guys** every **now and then**." She never counted them to begin with. "Just those who actually has the guts to **confess** in the first place..."

The feeling started clawing its way up to his throat.

"But it can't be helped, you know. Since we're kind of became **famous** after the war. It's natural for them to be **flocking around** the heroes."

The sluggish sensation that already invaded every single cell of his body started to heat up.

"I mean, isn't it the same for **Naruto**? I bet, that was one of the reasons why **Sasuke Uchiha** left the village. Even **Gaara** would receive hundreds of **love letters** every day. Isn't it the same for **Hatake Kakashi**?.."

"...op it..."

As everything started to boil inside of him, he found it impossible to control himself now.

"You said something?"

"Stop it."

"Huh?"

"I said, stop it!" He shouted. Few steps to break the distance and he grabbed her shoulders. A little bit harder than he should. "Stop talking about other guys! You're MINE!"

He sobered up in an instant, when sinister shadow covered Temari's face.

'Oh, crap! What did I just...' he immediately removed his hands, as they started to pick up dead cold aura.

Temari made a step forward.

'I'm dead!' Shikamaru thought in panic, but he didn't dare to back down.

"Sorr..."

His apology was interrupted with a kiss.

"So you can get jealous after all." She was actually smiling. The look she had on her face seemed rather satisfied.

"Huh?" It was still hard to believe that he's still alive.

"You should go now. I still have this drunkard to take care of."

Already outside Shikamaru raised his eyes to the sky and thought: 'I'll never be able to understand this woman...'

When Temari locked the door, she already had no strength left to control her emotions. She leaned on the wall and covered her face as it was slowly turning bright red all the way up to her ears.

'Oh my god...' she thought. 'That was so cool!'

Some part of her wanted to behave like a six-year-old girl in love.

* * *

Hungover Kankurou was clinging to Gaara ever since the Sand Siblings left their hotel room. Unwillingly he gave Shikamaru another couple of minutes alone with his bride.

"Hey, Temari, do you ever get jealous?" He still couldn't stop thinking of the last evening.

"Hmmm..." she wasn't looking at him.

In her mind Temari thought about that long haired childhood friend of his, and the other glassed girl, who was clearly in love; and many other girls who might be after him when she's not around. 'Is it possible not to?' She thought. There was no use lying here. And yet, it was way too embarrassing to admit. He'd figure it out anyway, so it would make no difference at all what she was to say now.

"I'm not telling you!" She said catching up with her brothers.


	2. Chapter 2 - Overwork

**Title:** Overwork

 **Author:** _tiashew14_

 **Genre:** romance and humor

 **Pairing:** ShikaTema

 **Raiting:** K+.

 **Fandom:** Naruto

 **DC:** the original story belongs to the author. I'm only responsible for my own imagination.

 **Annotation:** Even the strongest of people have their breaking point. Whenever things go wrong is the time to discover one's true limits.

* * *

"This trip is waaaay too tiring!" Ino started complaining the moment they've left the village. After two days on the road only the sand and trees were still listening to her. There was absolutely nothing new that she could possibly come up with at this point. It was already the fifth time Shikamaru had heard this particular line. "Why can't they build the railway faster?"

"Stop it, Ino." Chouji finally broke their silent pact to ignore her. "I don't remember you complaining when there were no trains at all." Outgoing as he was, even Chouji couldn't bear with all that whining. Especially since he ran out of chips couple of hours ago. Those two things could easily bring him into foul mood. "Didn't you say you wanted to lose weight? Now's your chance."

'He shouldn't have said that.' A lazy thought crawled across Shikamaru's mind, but he didn't say a word. Interfering would be way too troublesome. He'd seen this fight countless times already and the result is still going to be the same. He knew his friends well enough to predict what exactly will happen next.

Ino will snap. And blame Chouji for sure.

"As if it's not your fault!" The girl shouted. See? Just as usual. "It's all because you wanted to try some exclusive dishes at all those diners on our way here!"

"I didn't force you to eat."

"Plus, I wanted to go on a diet, not walk for days!"

"Even I know that exercising is more efficient than dieting."

"Shut up! Every girl in the world diets! It's our way to be pretty!"

"You can't speak for every girl out there."

"Yes, I can! Nobody wants to be fat, like you!"

She said it. That would usually be a time for Shikamaru to interfere. If they were still children, of course. The f-word was the only thing that would make Chouji go berserk when he was younger. But, the guy just laughed. A lot of things had changed since then.

"My girlfriend likes me this way, so..."

"Look at you! Getting all too cocky just because you've got a girl!" And now would be the time she remembers their team got a third member. "Shikamaru, back me up!"

"Sorry, but I'm with Chouji on this one." He yawned. "Dieting is just a waste of time."

"Traitor!" Ino suddenly smiled. "You know what, Chouji. I bet you to find a girl who doesn't diet on this trip."

"Ino, you do realize, that we're going to Sand Village where they don't have a luxury to waste food?"

"Shut up, Shikamaru!" The voice of reason couldn't reach her now. Also, as usual. "And if I win, you're going on a diet, Chouji! For a whole week!"

"But if I win, you'll pay for my next meal. Whatever it is. Deal?"

"Deal!"

Escaping from the office for a while was nice, but who'd have thought that this mission will turn out to be this troublesome.

* * *

The word 'busy' wasn't enough to describe past few weeks in Hidden Sand. Everything that could possibly go wrong, actually did so, and all at the same time. All criminals from the past decided to show up, all important figures got themselves kidnapped, all the cats in the village managed to escape in just this one day. Or actually, this morning. It was hardly past noon. The amount of urgent missions was overwhelming, when most of the high-ranked shinobi were still down because of the epidemic outbreak last week. The sole fully functioning body remained Kazakage's office and only because of the Sand Siblings' efforts to keep the village going.

And so far they were failing…

Temari stretched on her chair. After spending another morning working on the papers, her whole body was aching. To cope with the current workload, the sleeping hours had to be cut short, most of the meals skipped and every extra minute of time spent in the office. Keeping this kind of regime wasn't something new to her, but there's never getting used to it, no matter how good you are at time management. There's limit to everything. Even when it comes to the strongest ones.

But no matter how tiring it may be, the Kage's office has to continue working when everything is falling apart.

Temari of all people in the village had no right to feel tired. Not just yet.

This much she could easily handle.

And today she even had some time left for the whole lunch break.

Somebody knocked.

"Temari-san, urgent report!" the girl exclaimed before the door was fully opened. Hearing those words was not surprising at all - about half of the people coming to her office will say that line. Another half will be for 'Temari-san, we've got a problem!'

"Go ahead."

"The breach in the prison walls has been located and our scouting team was able to estimate the exact number of escapees. Additional forces had been requested upon receiving this message."

"I'll handle it. Thank you." Another report to read and pass onto Kazekage. After allocating teams to deal with the prisoners, of course. Here comes half of the lunch break.

"Temari-san! We've got a problem!" A guy rushed in without even knocking. "Kankurou-san requires your presence in the city." If Temari remembered correctly, he was part of her middle brother's squad. Or was it just his student? Remembering faces shouldn't be this hard.

"Urgent?"

"Yes."

'No lunch it is.' Temari thought.

"Where is he?"

"Follow me, mam."

When everything goes wrong, you can't expect even tiniest thing to be right.

It was way too naïve of her to even think of having some time off.

The meeting with middle brother took longer than expected. But that was predictable too. Just like the fact that the prison report will reach Kazekage only late in the evening. By that time the slightest thought of even having a lunch will vanish without trace.

"The Leaf's team will be arriving tomorrow. We suspect, that their target might be involved with the prison break." Even Gaara, who is used to stay up late for days without sleep, looked tired now. "Let them cooperate with Kankurou on this one."

"Tomorrow?" Couldn't be that soon. The message from the Leaf came…

Three days ago.

"Yes."

The past two days were completely gone from her timeline.

"I'll leave them to you, Temari."

Of course. This means, that tomorrow's share of work has to be finished tonight.

'I guess there's no sleeping today either.' Temari thought, but nodded.

It wasn't in her character to complain.

* * *

"According to our information, your target might be involved in a recent prison break. I suggest you look into it first." The work talk started the moment they've exchanged dry greetings on the way to the Kazekage's office. The mood between the members of Leaf's most well-coordinated team was somehow tense. They were unusually quiet today, so the official stuff was the only way to break the silence before it gets too awkward. "Kankurou is in charge of the investigation, so you can join him this afternoon. Until then the Kage office will provide you with all information we have."

Temari didn't mention how hard it was to persuade her middle brother to take this mission, especially since he had to deal with another one this night. But the harsh reality claimed otherwise – there were no shinobi capable enough left in the village - even with the Leaf's support. Having an afternoon off was a luxury neither Kankurou nor Temari herself couldn't afford right now.

'At least he gets to work on the field.' She thought. Temari already could imagine the long queue waiting for her at the office door with more urgent reports to look into. She should probably get back there before they start to pile up.

"Temari, we get it." Ino's voice was as sweet as honey. "We've got some free time till noon, right?"

Her sweet tone would sound rather suspicious, if Temari had any strength in her left to deal with the trivial matters.

"Basically, yes." That was probably the first time in weeks that she heard the words 'free time'. Work was the only thing that kept her going for days.

"Let's chat then!" Ino grabbed Temari by the arm and pulled away from the guys. Far enough to create an illusion of privacy – most likely they were still able to hear every single word the girls say. "I feel like we've never really talked even though you two are in a relationship. I feel like we need to do a little... bonding."

"Sure." Temari forced herself to say that, even though her first instinct was to break off and walk away. She wasn't good at having all those girly talks the Leaf's girls so found of. Not when expressing normal human emotions became hard. And this girl… she clearly had a hidden motive behind all this.

"Say, Temari..." Ino turned around to look at the guys following behind. "I couldn't help but notice, that you're always in such a good shape. Is there any secret?"

"Not really." Kazekage's older sister shrugged. "It's just the training, I guess." Strictly speaking she hardly had any time for that too. "And a lot of work." That sounded more right.

"There must something." Ino persisted. "Is it the food? Must be the food. I bet you have some secret diet you follow. You can tell me, we're all girls here." She winked. Was it the reason behind the whole 'bonding' thing? Sounded rather plain. Although the Leaf girls like to make fuss about all those insignificant things. "I really could use some advise here. It's so hard to keep fit with two guys on your team, but you always look perfect. Do you diet?"

"No." Temari shrugged again. She still couldn't figure out what was all of that about. For now, telling the truth would be the easiest way. "It's just a waste of time."

"Tch." All friendly demeanor disappeared from Ino's face. "You're so meant for each other..."

"I've heard that!" Chouji suddenly shouted. So they were pretending not to listen after all. "You've lost, Ino!"

"Shut up!" The girl didn't even try to sound friendly any more – all the hidden fury was now out in the open. "The deal was for you to find, not me! It doesn't count!"

"It sooo does count!"

Still confused Temari watched them argue. The bawl was getting so loud that villagers would stop to watch it. No matter how noisy Hidden Sand can get, there's no way that arrival of Leaf's shinobi could make these days more peaceful.

"You look tired." Temari didn't see him approaching at all. Somehow she still got enough self-control not to twitch. Maybe this worried look on Shikamaru's face wasn't for nothing after all.

There's no use of denying it, though.

"It's been busy here." She sighted and closed her eyes for a moment. Her eyelids felt as heavy as lead when she forced herself to open them again. "With all the prisoners and cats escaping tomorrow…"

"You mean yesterday?"

"What did I say?"

"Tomorrow."

"Really?" She didn't notice THAT as well. A mistake so simple and stupid, one would expect… Ino here, for example, to make. But it never happened to Temari before. These few weeks might've been more tiring than she expected. And there's no way in hell that this guy here will let it slide. Not when his worried look was piercing through Temari's skin.

"Is everything ok?"

Loud "MEOOOOOOW" saved Temari from the necessity of answering that question. The scared animal appeared on the horizon in a bright orange flash, aiming straight into the crowd. At least it wasn't that bald nightmare Temari saw on one of the missing cats reports yesterday. The fetching team appeared a minute later. As loud as the arguing duo was, three teenagers pushing through the crowd managed to beat them hands down. Cat's screams, kids' voices, and swearing of the annoyed pedestrians made it easier to point out their trail through the street. Temari stepped forward trying to figure out which team was that and who to punish later for indecent behavior during the mission. If she remembered correctly, there has to be at least three orange cats on the loose.

Someone appeared on her way before she could react.

"Sorry." The guy she crashed into mumbled and hurried to disappear along with the cat fetching team. There was no escaping embarrassing conversation now.

And the look on Shikamaru's face proved it yet again.

"You never crash into people." He wasn't asking. Rather his words sounded almost accusing.

He was right. And there was absolutely nothing she could possibly say that won't make everything seem worse than it already was. Even the most brilliant minds tend to go stiff and the sharpest senses tend to go dull under the pressure and the lack of sleep. By this time Temari already exhausted all her inner reserves to come up with another useless excuse.

"Apparently, I do." She shrugged. "No need to panic, though."

He probably prepared himself for a long and troublesome fight, and definitely didn't expect her of all people to give in so easily.

"I'll start panicking when you crash into a wall or something."

Temari chuckled.

"That's never gonna happen."

'One more day like that, and it probably will.' She thought. And only then she'd realize the real extent of her exhaustion, that she normally would choose to overlook. There's no need for him to know that, though.

"Watch out!"

A carriage passed by just two steps ahead. Just two steps that Temari was about to make hadn't Shikamaru caught her in time. Mere couple of steps before a direct hit. At least someone's senses are working fine right now. If not… crashing into people is one thing, but not noticing a carriage that was making whole lot of noise...

There's no way she can pretend nothing happened now.

"Thanks."

"You've been overworking yourself." It didn't remotely sound like a question or accusation. He was just plainly stating the fact, like when he finally figured out the answer for a question that was bugging him for days. By no means Temari could have remain calm if the situation was reversed. "Again."

She uttered a sight.

"Looks like you figured it out before I could."

"It's kind of obvious. Judging from this, and..." The carriage was already far away, but Shikamaru still held Temari close. That's probably for the best, since it left her no chance to crash into someone again. "You've lost weight."

"Really?"

"Yeah. And we have to do something about that." He turned around looking for his teammates in the crowd. "Hey, Ino!"

"What?" Somehow they've managed to miss everything, although both parties were probably fed up with the pointless argument by now.

"You've clearly lost this time." Chouji let out triumphant cry, as Shikamaru drew conclusion to their fight. "Now's your best chance to pay up. Why don't we grab a lunch, since we have to wait till noon."

"Sounds great!" Chouji exclaimed, but next moment a drop of confusion clouded his joy.

"But I don't know any good places in the Sand…"

"Temari can help you out with that. If Ino's paying, of course."

"Deal!"

Ino was clearly furious. He'll probably regret these words, later. But for now…

"That was subtle." Temari couldn't hold back that sarcastic note.

"It doesn't matter." Shikamaru chuckled. "Just gain it back."

It wasn't something that he'd normally say. And definitely not something she'd accept. In fact, she'd probably punch him for those words. Normally.

But this time…

"Fine."

* * *

 **Author's note:** In case anyone was wondering where've I been, I can only say – I've been busy. I mean, this chapter busy. I'm really grateful to all my friends who didn't let me die, get hit by a car or fall into the manhole, hehe. I really appreciate it guys. Although the busy days are far from over…

I planned to finish this piece for the Christmas, but failed T.T. And I still have another chapter waiting for proofreading that was meant to be posted for New Year, and now I know that there's no chance I'll make it in time. I'm really sorry about that.

For this chapter… I must say, that my personal experience was good enough to make a good story. At least I'm happy about that, haha. Another thing is… I actually hate it when people tell me something like 'You should gain some weight'. I really think I know better how I want myself to be, but… It's not about me here. I always wanted to play with Shikamaru's hate for the diets and it turned out to be cute. I still hate those words, though xDDD.

Please wait some more for the updates. I'm not dead yet, although I'm working myself down that road…


End file.
